One-Shot: Forever Sleep, My Love?
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Had a bit of a writer's block these past few days, but then I got to thinking: what if Ben Solo had FAILED to bring Rey back to life with the Force? What would have happened then? Read on to find out, and please enjoy!


**One-Shot: Forever Sleep, My Love?**

Ben Solo used the last reserves of his strength to lift Rey Palpatine into his arms. Cradling her like a baby, he glanced about helplessly, desperate for help. But the plain on Exogol was deserted. He took a deep, determined breath. It was up to him now. He couldn't let the girl he loved die! Not like this.

Placing a hand on Rey's stomach, he willed the Force to him. Willed it to bring her back to life. Remaining in the silent vigil, he held it and held it, feeling the power growing until he couldn't hold it anymore. He sagged in exhaustion, letting the concentration drop as he checked to see whether a miracle had occurred.

Rey's eyes were still staring far ahead, unseeing, her head lolled lifelessly to one side. No... Ben shook her, tears springing to his eyes.

"Asleep, my love?" Rey's head bobbed uselessly, like a marionette still tied to a string. "What dead, my dove?" Pressing his ear close to her breast, Ben listened for a heartbeat. He found none. Hopelessly, he seized her petite little wrist, his large hands able to dwarf its whole circumference with ease. No pulse, either.

Tamping down a sob, Ben surged forward and pushed his lips against hers in a desperate kiss. Her lips already felt lukewarm, cool, but not yet fully cold, though he could feel the frigidity rapidly spreading through her corpse. Rey had a pretty little mouth, Ben noted. Her lips were soft, smooth and full. But cruelly, they were not pliant, as those same lips did not move to kiss him back. There was no sign of life at all.

He had failed. He was too late. For all he knew, he had missed his chance by seconds. Less than seconds. Parsecs, perhaps...

Weeping bitterly, Ben cuddled Rey close, his tears falling into her chestnut brown hair. Finally, casting his eyes to the heavens, Ben let out a primal scream, the cry of denial grating and hard-edged and bitter. And quite reminiscent of other refusals to believe... like the cry of an embittered man having lost his wife despite taking whatever steps necessary to prevent it. Like the cry of a young farmboy discovering himself to be a prodigal son, except the father welcoming him back was a monster.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! No..."

Staggering shakily to his feet, Ben picked Rey up in his arms. His heart broke all over again when he recalled how she had swooned into his embrace, a bridal carry much like this, the first day they met in that beautiful forest. Ben's face twisted in agony. Carrying her off to his shuttle on Takodana had been a happy memory - the first in a long time - and now it had been perverted, tainted, turned completely on its head. For there was no promise that the princess would awaken from her slumber this time.

What to do? Where to go? His brain dazed and fuzzy, Ben resolved to at least get Rey out of the Sith temple, off of Exogol, and work his way up from there.

Stumbling out of the temple, as the lightning flashed, Ben once again spotted the landing gears of his uncle's old X-wing next to those of his TIE fighter. Seeing the old rebel gunship, an idea fell into his head. Figuring he would stand a better chance of being heard and received if he took the red X-Wing, he climbed into the cockpit, Rey's body nestled into his lap, and lifted off into space, leaving his TIE behind.

* * *

Working backwards, Ben managed to dig up the coordinates of Ajan Kloss. They had already been plugged in as the X-Wing's next destination, likely by Rey, on the offchance that she made it off of Exogol alive.

As he flew into the Unknown Regions past the remnants of collapsing Star Destroyers, voices crackled in over the radio frequency:

"Red Five, do you copy? Rey? You're alive?"

Clogging his throat so that another sob didn't burst free, Ben switched the radio frequency off and replied to all incoming messages in writing. He did not confirm that Rey was alive, or that it was she who was flying. All messages were kept vague and uniform: EMPEROR IS DEAD. MEET ME BACK ON AJAN KLOSS. He never placed a signature.

When Red Five swooped into the jungle canopy of Ajan Kloss and touched down, Ben could see that a wild celebration was going on. Releasing the hatch, he rose up out of the cockpit, all while trying to keep Rey in his arms. The awkwardness of this movement meant that Rey's form was seen rising out of the cockpit first, to cheers. However, the cheers quickly turned to gasps of horror as Rey's body fell back, limp, once Ben managed to get into a standing position. Then the gasps turned to screams as Ben made his way down the ladder using only his feet.

Cradling Rey like a baby, nuzzling his wet face into her neck, Ben sadly and solemnly approached the Resistance fighters. The crowd that had formed around the X-Wing drew back in horror at his approach...

... with the exception of two men - one with skin of ebony and one of ivory - who rushed forward in terrified anguish.

"Rey?... REY!" Ben recognized the traitor, FN-2187, as the former trooper sprinted right into his personal space and began tugging at Rey's prone form. Unconsciously, Ben felt his embrace around the girl tighten covetously - no one else was allowed to touch her! But his grief had weakened his strength, enough so that Finn won the brief tug-of-war and snatched Rey out of his grasp. Cupping her face, the dark-skinned man shook his head in disbelief and abject horror. All at once, Ben was taken back to another moment like this, in new-fallen snow with Rey lying unconscious and this traitor holding her. Like in that moment on Starkiller Base, Ben felt a jealous rage rise up inside him. However, this time, he bit hostile words back and kept still.

"Rey... No... No!" Finn broke down as he cuddled Rey close. Smoothed back her matted hair. Kissed her face. Watching the scene that was when Ben realized: he loved her. The poor, sad fool, the deserter, _loved_ her! Strangely, he almost wanted to laugh. How could anyone not love Rey?

A harsh, seething whisper snapped Ben out of his thoughts, to find FN-2187 glaring at him with pure fire. If it were possible, the dark coals that were the ex-trooper's eyes would by now have burst aflame.

"You _killed_ her!"

Eyes wide and blinking, Ben vigorously shook his head. "I did not. It was the Emperor. I tried to bring her back to life..." He was rambling, tripping over his words more than he should have. The pilot, Dameron, cut him off.

"Why should we believe you?" Poe snarled, advancing on Ben menacingly with his blaster raised. "You don't deserve to live..."

"You're right," Ben agreed flatly. "I don't." The earnestness he placed in this statement made Dameron blink and even stagger back a step, so that the barrel of his blaster wobbled. "But I do deserve the chance to say a piece in my own defense." So saying, he waved his hand with the Force to cast the blaster aside.

Poe swayed, lunging to the side to catch the gun as it tumbled to the jungle floor. "What are you...?"

Using the Force, Ben yanked both the pilot and the traitor forward, the latter still holding Rey. Yells went up and other blasters were quickly drawn from others in the crowd, but they held their fire.

As they watched, transfixed, as Ben placed a hand on Poe and Finn's foreheads, forcing his memories into their heads.

Right away, he could sense the presence of FN-2187 in the Force brush up against his rather strongly. The man was quite Force-sensitive; no wonder he had broken his conditioning. In the energy field, the pilot was also present, though his affinity for the Force was significantly weaker - in fact, very faint so as to be almost non-existent. Closing his eyes, Ben forced images rapidly into the brains of both these men: him running into the temple, Rey passing him the lightsaber, Rey and Ben with their sabers high as they faced the fight together, Emperor Palpatine casting him into the pit, and finally Sidious's lightning overwhelming Rey's crossed sabers.

The mental onslaught ended and the pilot and traitor both jerked back, so forcefully that Rey's body swayed dangerously in Finn's embrace - enough for Ben to grab her back, clutching her possessively.

"He... he didn't kill her," Finn breathed, turning back to the crowd around them. "He's telling the truth!" He said this like he didn't quite believe it himself.

Though also moved, Poe recovered more quickly, his face collapsing into a stormy scowl. "But he's still killed countless others. Enslaved populations unwittingly. Blown up whole systems." He stalked dangerously close to Ben, and Ben's grip on Rey tightened. "What I want to know is..." Poe advanced until he and Ben were nose-to-nose. "Why would he come show his face here?"

Ben gulped, his eyes sad and vulnerable. "I just... wanted to bring her home. To her family. So she may be buried properly."

"Thank you," Poe said stiffly, curtly, reaching for Rey. "You have done our cause a merciful duty at least. Your services are no longer required..."

Ben twisted away, letting his eyes flash for just a parsec to let them know he was serious. "I must be with her until the last. She is my soulmate. My wife. The other half of our Dyad in the Force - something that _you_ wouldn't understand..." He ignored how Poe dangerously stilled at this. Ben peered at him searchingly, trying to find mercy where there likely was none, his eyes pleading. "Please. Please don't take her from me until the last possible moment." He sighed and threw his shoulders back, trying to look brave in the midst of feeling resigned to his fate. "You can do what you want with me, Commander... and I won't question why. Just let me stay with her until she's safely buried. Please. I... I love her." Off to his left, he heard FN-2187 choke in horror.

Poe was silent for a long time. At last, he spoke: "You may stay with her until she is buried. Rey will be laid to rest here."

Ben sagged in relief. At least his love would sleep somewhere where it was green. "Thank you."

Poe now addressed the crowd. "After that... based on the evidence, I have no choice but to order the defendant, Kylo Ren, remanded to the Resistance jail cell to await execution and death."

The Co-General was shocked to see Ben also look pleased at this. "Death is mercy for me. Thank you, Commander."

But Ben had spoken too much. And thought too much as well, about how at least he would soon be with Rey again for eternity, for he felt FN-2187 brush against his thoughts.

"Actually, Poe," the traitor stepped forward. "I believe a life imprisonment would be more appropriate. Let the monster agonize over his crimes until he is old and gray."

Ben's face dipped in horror. Catching Finn's greater reasoning, Poe grinned wickedly. "An excellent idea, Finn!" Raising his hands, he once again addressed the crowd. "But for now, friends, let us mourn our Jedi and hero."

* * *

Rey Palpatine was buried on a grassy knoll, a hillside overlooking the cliffs and jungle valleys of Ajan Kloss. Poe gave a moving eulogy. Keeping their word, the men allowed Ben to be present and even help lower his lover into the grave... though this was tainted by FN-2187's pushy insistence that he help carry the body. The result was former Stormtrooper and former Sith awkwardly carrying Rey between them like she was a sack of flour.

Filling the grave, and carving an epitaph on the headstone with one of Rey's lightsabers, Finn and Poe waited at the edge of the clearing while Ben stood by the gravesite, alone with the love of his life and his thoughts. At last, Ben Solo turned back to the men and held out his wrists.

"I'm ready now."

He was slapped in ion cuffs.

* * *

Ben was imprisoned in a jail cell on Ajan Kloss for the rest of his days. He lived a long life, toiling away in his cell. The only comfort he received (and he wasn't sure if this was done on sadistic purpose or was just a happy accident) was the unencumbered view of his wife's grave from the barred windows of his cell.

Poe Dameron, Finn and the other Resistance fighters grew old. Retired. Married and had families of their own. Their successors were told to keep a sharp watch on the prisoner once known as Kylo Ren, even after he became the only inmate left in captivity on that jungle planet. These successors also heard the story, of how the Jedi Killer was in love with the Last Jedi, and would keep watch over her grave by day and night.

Ben Solo too grew old, living out long days agonizing over his past crimes. When he finally passed on into the Force, the New Republic showed mercy and buried him beside the love of his life.

The Dyad in the Force was reunited at last.


End file.
